Police: Man caught with more than a ton of pot

John ByrneTribune reporter

State police and federal agents arrested two men and recovered more than 2,400 pounds of marijuana from an East Garfield Park warehouse this week as part of a drug sting, prosecutors said when one of the men appeared in court today.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge James Brown set bond Saturday at $500,000 for Carlos Leyva, 32, of Stickney, on drug trafficking charges.

Leyva was arrested Friday after police and Drug Enforcement Administration officers saw him follow a truck driven by another man to a warehouse in the 2400 block of West Grand Avenue, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Carlson said.

The truck contained the marijuana weighing well over a ton and whose street value is about $4.8 million, Carlson told Brown.

Another man, Johani Reyes-Montijo of Chicago, was arrested after fleeing the warehouse along with Leyva when officers moved in, according to records in the case, but Reyes-Montijo was not in court with Leyva.

Leyva is scheduled to return to court for an April 15 preliminary hearing.